Dow Chemical's work on prosthetic foot garners nomination

Published 8:30 am, Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Jaipur Foot is a prosthetic foot that has changed the lives of thousands in India, with some help from The Dow Chemical Co.

Because of its work on the foot, the company is a nominee for The 2014 da Vinci Awards, which will be awarded Thursday in Dearborn.

Dow India worked with the Indian non-government organization Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti to develop a better prosthetic, which can help people walk again. The results can be life changing, said Michael E. Witt, Dow’s global director for toxicology, environmental research and consulting, and the management sponsor of Dow’s Disability Employee Network.

“What better opportunity than to help someone regain their dignity, and regain their ability to do things that they no longer are able to do,” Witt said.

Dow’s polyurethane business worked to improve on the foot’s design.

“In the process, we’re able to create a leg that’s 20 percent lighter than the next best model,” he said. “It’s stronger than the next best model. And here’s the best part: It’s much cheaper than the next best model. In a country like India, when you change the price point, or the cost point in this case, for this technology, what that translates to is access to people.”

Dow has remained involved with the Jaipur Foot project for years, even retrofitting a bus to take the technology to more communities in India.

“The last number I saw was that more than 36,000 people have benefited from this technological breakthrough that Dow has been a leader in implementing,” Witt said.

Dow spokeswoman Louise Adhikari said the Jaipur Foot has seen incredible updates from its early days.

“The shift in that technology went from the NGO carving by hand solid rubber feet, to a polyurethane that actually bends,” she said. “From the Indian context, where so much of your day-to-day activity needs the flexibility from the foot because you’re squatting to cook, to clean, that’s the difference it makes on that very cultural level that’s not necessarily obvious when you’re sitting in the U.S.”

Dow is striving to show corporate responsibility goes beyond donating money to causes.

“We, I think, are leaders in taking projects where we can apply technology and people power and a financial arm as well,” she said.

Another example is Dow’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity, where most of what Dow gives is product technology and people power, Adhikari said.

“Jaipur Foot is very specific to India, but it’s the same thing,” she said. “It’s the technology piece of it with the foot itself, and we have a lot of employee engagement with the Jaipur Foot camps. The Jaipur Foot is given away for free, there’s no charge for it. So you have the direct employee engagement, and the financial piece of it is the lesser of the three.”

The da Vinci Awards is an international celebration of the latest, most impactful research and developments in all categories of assistive and adaptive technology. Proceeds from the event benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Michigan Chapter.

“There are multiple nominees from all areas of the globe who have projects that will be there,” Witt said. “We’ll celebrate and recognize one another. Someone will come away the winner, but in my mind they’re all winners.”